Within an Inch
by Mirai Kusakurin
Summary: Kei's losing control little by little, falling into the temptation of bloodlust - and Sho refuses to stop him from taking things too far. Oneshot.


My first Moon Child fanfic, it was three pages. Yay. And with the help of my beta-chick, Ryuuzaki Kusakurin. ^_^

Disclaimer: I don't own these characters. Actually, I don't own anything... Damn.

Kei laid his hand on Sho's head, affectionately running his fingers through the soft strands of the teenager's hair. In his sleep, Sho sighed and leaned slightly into the vampire's gentle touches. Kei brought his hand back after a moment, looking down at his friend and smiling sadly. "I can't stay anymore, Sho," he said, voice just above a whisper. "You're not safe here... not with me around." Leaning down and placing a kiss on the youth's forehead, Kei stood up and turned, starting for the door.

He knew he was losing control. He couldn't keep himself from wondering what Sho tasted like, or how soft his skin would be underneath his fangs, what it would feel like to tear into that strong, toned flesh... He could no longer stop himself from glancing at Sho's neck in a combination of want and need; the last thing he wanted to do was hurt Sho, or worse yet, be forced to damn him to centuries upon centuries of eternal life. Kei couldn't trust himself anymore... he knew that with a certainty now, especially after the night before.

-----

"Kei?"

Kei looked up from the bar and into Sho's excited eyes. He was so young, so full of energy, and it was times like this that the blonde was forced to acknowledge how truly alive his friend was. "I won't dance, Sho."

Sho sighed resignedly and crossed his arms. Kei shook his head at the gesture; the teen still hadn't learned to take no for an answer. "Why not, Kei? I know you **can**, so don't try to lie yourself out of this _again_. I've seen you dance before."

"I said no," the vampire reiterated, fighting the immature desire to roll his eyes. "Go dance with Toshi or Son."

"Why'd you even bother to **come** if you weren't going to dance?" Sho demanded, regretting it as soon as the words came out of his mouth. "I mean - I didn't..."

"I'm going home," Kei interrupted, not looking at Sho. He started walking away from the bar, intent on doing just that.

"Wait... Kei!"

The vampire immediately halted and spun slowly to face the youth. "Yes?"

"I'm sorry, I didn't mean it like that -"

Kei nodded and let himself smile slightly. "It's alright. And no, I'm not mad," he offered, seeing the crestfallen look on Sho's face. "I'll see you when I get home." When Sho didn't try and stop him from leaving again, Kei left him standing at the bar alone.

---

He walked slowly towards the apartment, enjoying the cool night air as he debated going back at all. Part of him wanted to find a place to spend the daylight hours, but the logical part of him knew that when Sho was done partying, the youth would come home. And if _he_ wasn't home, Sho would go looking for him, whether he was drunk or not. Eventually, Kei opted to go back to the apartment instead of aimlessly wandering the streets as midnight came and passed. Regardless of anything he might have thought, he didn't want Sho to spend the rest of the new day worrying about him.

After entering the apartment, Kei crossed the room to sit on the futon, putting his head in his hands. Every day, the temptation got stronger, the desire based on his instinctual want to give in to his cravings and bite Sho growing little by little. Up until this point, Kei had been able to hold his body back, hold _himself_ back... but how long would he be able to? He didn't know.

Kei was still on the daybed when Sho came in hours later. He was swaying slightly on his feet, having trouble standing in one place without stumbling.

"Tadaima," he said, barely able to say it without slurring the syllables together.

Kei didn't even look up, just mumbled something incoherent as some form of acknowledgement.

Sho made his way over to the futon, nearly tripping every step of the way. "Na, Kei, you shoulda stayed. It was fun." Kei mumbled something again and Sho had to lean forward to hear him better. "What?"

"_Go away_," Kei stressed through clenched teeth, sliding away from the drunken teenager. He smells too good, he thought desperately. Even with the scent of alcohol tainting it, the smell of fresh blood lingered around him as it did every human.

Sho stepped back, surprised but more hurt than anything. Kei's harsh tone had shocked him into sobering up to a point where he could manage coherent thought. "Kei, what's going on?" he asked, the haze drunkenness slowly beginning to lift from his mind.

"Go away, Sho," Kei repeated, a little louder this time. He knew he might have scared Sho, but it was better for the boy to be scared and alive than unknowing and dead.

No matter how scared he might've been by Kei's strange behavior, Sho still wouldn't back off. The remaining alcohol in his system lent him a sense of bravado, and he refused to budge. "I'm..." he began, swallowing noticeably before stepping forward, extending a hand to touch Kei's shoulder. "I won't leave until you tell me what's wrong."

Why is he so stupid when he's drunk? Kei wondered absently. He could tell that Sho had managed to shake a lot of the alcohol away, but the youth was still acting uncharacteristically ignorant, from his view. Looking up at the teenager he had practically raised on his own, he took a deep breath. "You want to know what's wrong with me?" he asked, voice falsely pleasant as he fought off the familiar temptation.

Sho nodded, and Kei could hear his heart beating faster. The vampire stood up, his eyes sliding from Sho's eyes to his neck.

"You're too close... too tempting," he explained, closing his eyes in a pitiful attempt at resistance. Failing, he brought an arm up to touch the exposed skin of Sho's neck. Touching the tanned skin almost reverently, Kei allowed his pale fingers to travel down the slope of skin, over the necklace and around Sho's shoulder before the neckline of the shirt he was wearing stopped him. His eyes followed the path of his fingers hungrily, and he slid his hand jerkily down Sho's arm to his wrist, where he stopped.

His lips quirked upward in a strange parody of a smile before cold fingers clasped tightly around Sho's wrist, dragging him down to the futon. As soon as he was down, Kei straddled him, not giving him a chance to fight back or even realize what was happening until it had already occurred. Leaning down to near Sho's ear, Kei breathed, "Do you still trust a vampire - a **monster** - like me?"

His words came out in a hiss and his breath blew against Sho's ear, making the human shiver, but Kei was barely aware of the delineation between _friend_ and _prey_ as Sho stammered out a 'yes'.

Exhaling words of amazement and contempt like a prayer, Kei entangled his fingers in the braids at the back of Sho's head and made him tilt his head to the side, pressing his lips almost sensually to the warm flesh of the teenager's neck. "Foolish," he whispered, flicking out his tongue to taste the smooth flesh he had craved for so long.

Continuing, he ran his tongue over the pulse point - he felt Sho shudder, but he hadn't started struggling. Indeed, the youth relaxed a little beneath him as Kei lightly scraped his fangs against his skin.

"Do it," Sho urged, baring his neck further. "I won't... mind..."

_He has no idea what I could do to him_, Kei thought, though it was only with the vaguest sense of worry that it crossed his mind. _He looks..._ he paused, lapping at the tiny pinpricks of blood that had welled up. _...delicious... _When Kei pressed his fangs into the flesh lightly, barely drawing any blood, the beast inside of Kei screamed for more, howling for the blonde to bite further. _Not yet..._ he thought at it, covering the small wounds with his mouth and sucking gently.

_I don't know if I could do this... without hurting him..._

The realization sent him reeling, and with what little humanity he had left, Kei dragged himself away, licking at the droplets of blood that still clung to his cool lips before fleeing to his room.

-----

Just as he reached to door of the room, just as he was about to relax, Kei heard Sho's voice and froze.

"Kei...? Where are you going?" The sleepy voice stopped and he heard Sho fumbling with the blinds for a moment before he continued speaking. "It's light out..."

"I..." He wouldn't allow himself to stay. _I can't, not now..._ "I'm leaving."

Sho abruptly stood up from the futon where he had fallen asleep and, with only a second of disorientation, he made his way over to the blonde, slamming a hand down on the door so that Kei couldn't open it. "You can't go," he mumbled, exhaustion still evident in his voice. "I still need you."

_Don't listen to it, you could have killed him,_ Kei warned himself. "Sho... last night, I almost - "

"-But you didn't. You almost bit me, but you didn't. Kei, please..."

If one was to tally it up, Sho had Kei and he had his friends, the people he had grown up with.

Kei only had Sho.

"Sho, I really -"

"You can't leave me yet!" the youth cried out when he realized how serious his friend was, his hand not leaving the door. "Please, please don't leave me." The vampire could see his friend's eyes beginning to glisten with unshed tears, and with a soft sigh of almost-parental exasperation, he gave in, taking the taller man into his arms.

"Sho… you don't know how much danger you're in around me," Kei started, soothingly rubbing the other's back to calm him a bit. "I could kill you, and then it wouldn't matter if I left or not." Kei knew Sho was going to try to argue, so he continued before the taller boy could get a word out. "But… I'll stay… if you think you can trust me so much."

Sho pulled back and stood looking at Kei blankly. "I trust you with my life," he said softly.

Kei forced a smile. He wanted Sho to open his eyes and see that he wasn't safe with the vampire. He wanted the youth to realize his life was in danger everyday that he was with Kei, and just run.

But Sho would never do that. Kei knew it, but…

"If you trust me so much, then trust me when I say that if I ever try to turn against you… run." He moved away from the door and went over to the daybed, immediately closing his eyes, hoping that Sho wouldn't try to say more. When he heard the teenager open the door and leave, he sighed and within a few moments, he fell into a dreamless sleep.


End file.
